I’m in the US and I’m going back to college after 15 years in the work force. I’d like to try to test out of some basic classes I have a lot of experience in, but no college credits. How does this work? Who runs this program, an accredited testing board or individual colleges? If you test out of a class, would that count as 3 (or equivalent) credit hours of college credit for other purposes such as professional licensure? Are there issues with acceptance by colleges of these types of tests? Thanks!
Why go to college if you aren’t going to take the classes?
I’m pretty sure this is different at different schools, you’re going to have to ask. At my Uni (in the 90s) you could “challenge” 100 and 200 level courses for full credit. The prof had a bit of leeway on when, in the term, the test was offered and whether you’d be excused from attendance until then.
It was easier, in my case, to sign up for the same course at the local community college (which didn’t have any attendance requirements) for $30/credit (again in the 90s), just show up for tests, and then transfer the credits.
A lot of (community) colleges do placement test, in my experience. I tested out of all my mathematics courses.
If you have a specific institution in mind you’d like to attend, you’ll need to talk with some combination of their admissions, advising, and testing center staff.
What others have said - every school is different and you need to talk to an advisor. When i was in college (100 years ago) we took CLEP tests for specific classes that got you credit. My kids took AP exams and it was totally different at their school-if they passed a math AP they got 3 hours credit, but it was counted as a ‘math for non-math/science majors’ so there was no real way to test out of those.
